| Sumario: | Significance & Background: Oncology clinic nurses are frequently sub-specialized in partnership with one oncologist. Historically, education provided by the healthcare system during orientation was broad and focused on general oncology knowledge. As a result, nurses entering their oncologic sub-specialty reported a lack of sufficient knowledge and confidence. This impacted their ability to provide education and appropriately triage their patients. Purpose: To address nursing concerns, Breast Cancer 101 was developed with the goal of providing foundational breast knowledge that nurses could immediately apply to their practice when educating and triaging patients. Interventions: The Breast Cancer 101 series was planned in alignment with concerns brought forward by nursing and advanced practice provider teams. The progression of topics through the series paralleled the patient experience from diagnostics through survivorship. By intentionally following this pathway, each session built on the prior session and referenced material that was previously discussed. This allowed learners to continue to integrate and expand their knowledge. It also reinforced earlier material and provided opportunity for critical thinking. The sessions included didactic content with visuals and culminated with case studies. By leveraging the expertise of the breast multidisciplinary care team, learners were exposed to subject matter experts they may otherwise not have had opportunity to collaborate with. Results: An evaluation was completed following each presentation with quantifiable increases noted in both knowledge and confidence gained across the entire series. To assess long-term impact, a six-month follow up evaluation demonstrated that learners continue to retain most of the content and occasionally to regularly use the information in their practice. Anecdotally, attendees reported a high-level of satisfaction with the Breast Cancer 101 series. The presentations are also being offered as enduring material, and available sessions have been viewed multiple times continuing to show engagement with the content beyond the live-session offerings. Discussion: The oncology landscape continues to evolve and advance rapidly, requiring focused, diagnosis-specific educational opportunities. Critical to nursing engagement was involving the nurses in the topic outlines and providing targeted coaching to speakers to ensure alignment of their presentation with nursing expectations. Supporting nursing practice requires a holistic approach including education, individual support, and opportunity to practice critical thinking. Breast Cancer 101 is a strategy that successfully tackled all three of these pillars.
|
|---|